Posted on 11/08/2013 11:03:12 PM PST by Olog-hai
Over the past few years, British businesses operating in America have learned the hard way exactly how brutal the US can be when things go wrong. British banks have had to pay billions of dollars in fines to settle investigations by US regulators, ranging from allegations that Barclays rigged LIBOR to claims that Standard Chartered breached US sanctions against Iran. …
The US Department of Justice has hardly given JP Morgan an easy ride of late. Last week, America’s biggest bank was fined $5.1 billion, most of which related to wrongdoing at Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual, companies JP Morgan did not even own at the time. … The bank is still in discussions to settle another set of lawsuits, expected to bring JP Morgan’s total penalty to $13 billion.
Analysts and US politicians claim the record fine is politically motivated. JP Morgan navigated the economic crisis better than any other bank, but it has also been highly critical of Mr. Obama. “There is no doubt in my mind. It is an act of revenge,” says one Republican governor. …
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Don’t ever come here wearing red again!
Payback for the Syria humiliation.
If all these banks are innocent they would go to court and win against the charges. IMHO they were not. Question is did these banks do money laundering for Iran, terrorists and drug cartel on behest of the US gov, rigged markets on behest of the US gov to prevent collapse of US dollar as world reserve currency as some people have alleged. If true, then in the future no bank will do the US gov special favors in the name of national and economic security. On the other hand the banks did all these illegal things on their own, then the question is what were the US regulators doing. Maybe NSA should not be monitoring individuals but US corporate activities to insure no illegal activity is occurring.
Still it is disturbing that the US gov knowing all the banks are guilty of violations use this knowledge to blackmail them. As one former Fed prosecutor remarked, if motive to prosecute is based on legal grounds AND POLITICAL this would be a very disturbing trend. The notion that the gov will overlook the crimes of allies but prosecute ones who are critical does not bode well.
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